Carson’s nearing the end after bankruptcy sale

Carson’s, a one- time Chicago retail institution that faces the same struggles as other iconic stores over the past decades, will be closing its remaining stores as a result of Wednesday’s bankruptcy sale of its parent company to a pair of liquidation firms.

A federal bankruptcy court approved the sale of Carson’s parent company, Milwaukeebased Bon- Ton Stores Inc., to Great American Group and Tiger Capital Group.

In a letter sent to employees Monday, Bon Ton CEO Bill Tracy said the company would close all of its stores in 10 to 12 weeks and the process would begin shortly after the sale, according to a report in BizTimes Milwaukee Business News.

Bon- Ton operated 260 stores in 24 states when it filed for bankruptcy in January. In addition to Carson’s, the company owned the Bon- Ton, Bergner’s, Boston Store and ElderBeerman nameplates.

Carson’s has 30 stores in Illinois, of which 26 are in the Chicago area. A handful of stores in the area closed earlier this year, including Carson’s at Streets of Woodfield in Schaumburg, clearance centers in Morton Grove and Aurora as well as Carson’s at Riverside Plaza in Chicago.

The company was founded in 1854 in Amboy, Illinois, by Samuel Carson and John T. Pirie. It relocated to Chicago in the late 1860s, where it grew into Carson Pirie Scott & Co. with the help of partner Robert Scott, who joined the duo in 1890, according to the Encyclopedia of Chicago. Carson’s was a major presence on Chicago’s State Street. At its peak, Carson’s employed 8,000 people.